Collateral Damage: Suicide and Economic Recession

Economic recession and depressions
are well known to bring about depression and suicidal risks. There
are stories of businessmen jumping out of windows following the
stock-market crash of 1929.

Unknown to many, people who commits suicide in the wake of economic
recessions and financial crises are not individuals with
pre-existing mental illnesses. They are commonly middle-aged men in
the verge of debt and bankruptcy.

About sixty percent of suicides in 2006 (worldwide) happen in the
Asia Pacific region. In Japan, Sri Lanka, and some parts of China
report that more than 20 out of 100,000 citizens kill themselves
each year. More than twice as many in Australia and New Zealand.

It is also relatively higher in places where it is culturally
accepted like in Japan and India. When several countries in Asia-
Pacific were hit by an economic crisis in mid- 1990s, there was a
relative increase in the number of suicides among middle-aged men.
This group were said to be the most affected group by the economic
recession.

Aside from economic factors being a reason for suicide, it also has
to do something with the Asian values in terms of shame and
humiliation not being able to provide for the family.

In Asian culture, loss of face or shame is take more seriously than
it is in Western culture. In Japan, there are samurais that took
their own lives to avoid disgrace after a defeat. They call this
tradition hara-kiri. There are some corporate executives who have
done the hara-kiri tradition in the eve of an economic decline. A
stretch of forest in Mount Fuji is called the suicide forest due
to dozens of bodies retrieved from it every year.

Economic recession has great effects on the youth and children,
poverty and financial difficulties have pushed them towards suicide.
In Israel in 2003, a 15 year old killed himself when their
electricity has been cut. In the suicide note, the teen-ager
mentioned that he does not want to be a burden for his mother who
raised him as a single parent.

In the Philippines back in 2007, an 11 year old girl ended her life
because of poverty. In her suicide note, she wished that her parents
will have a stable job and that her siblings would be able to go to
school regularly. This incident drew attention towards the poverty
programs the government has in the country.

Governments and concerned institutions globally are taking steps to
address this issue.

An example would be the steps being undertaken by the Japanese
government. Some new measures are changing work patterns to allow
more flexibility and funding early detection and treatment programs.

The Japanese government are also providing better mental health
counselling at the workplace, networks of community psychiatrists
and public campaigns to raise the awareness of the problem.
Telephone hot line services are also readily available. There is a
new software being developed to filter out websites that promote
group suicides. Australia, in Asia-Pacific, is the first country to initiate the
prevention of web based suicide groups.

Aside from government efforts, there are personal ways you can do to
help a suicidal person:

1. A suicidal person is carrying a burden that they cant handle
anymore. Listening is important.